A passion for business: Wanamaker's, Munkacsy, and the depiction of Christ.(Mihaly Munkacsy and John Wanamaker)(Jesus Christ)(Critical essay)

The Hungarian artist Mihaly Munkacsy is little known among Americans today, and during the last fifty years, only a handful of art historical studies about him have been published in English. (1) But at the end of the nineteenth century, few artists garnered more respect and attention among American audiences, and none commanded higher prices than Munkacsy. His paintings Christ before Pilate and Christ on Golgotha enjoyed a phenomenal success, praised by critics, scholars, and ministers: thirty-five thousand Americans bought copies of the works to hang in their own homes, schools, offices, and churches. In November 1888, Harper's Weekly ran the following advertisement, including a portrait of the artist, noting that Christ before Pilate was

 
  pronounced by all to be the STRONGEST and MOST NOTABLE PICTURE ever 
  brought to America, being a MASTERPIECE, WONDERFUL AS A WORK OF ART, 
  BEYOND THE POWER OF LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE, WORTH A THOUSAND SERMONS as 
  a Moral Lesson, and which will become one of the most popular 
  PICTORIAL ORNAMENTS of AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS. 

The ad went on to note that

 
  DENSE CROWDS, numbering in the aggregate millions of people, have 
  thronged to see it both in Europe and this country. It is beyond all 
  doubt the most wonderful and impressive painting on a sacred subject 
  ever produced in the world, a statement that is sufficiently attested 
  by the fact of its sale for $120,000. (2) 

Urging readers to buy a copy of the work for only one dollar, the ad concluded with lavish testimonials by numerous religious leaders, who claimed it to be a virtual sermon in paint (Fig. 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

In addition to the thousands of Americans who owned copies of the works, millions more viewed them in traveling exhibitions. The originals entered the collection of John Wanamaker (1838-1922), the founder of what was arguably the most important department store empire in the United States at the turn of the century. Wanamaker paid more for the works (estimates vary from $100,000 to .$175,000 each) than had been paid by an American to any living artist up until that point. He considered these the most treasured works in a vast collection that included paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto, Bartolome Murillo, William Hogarth, John Con stable, and Peter Paul Rubens. (3) Originally shown at Lindenhurst, his estate in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, the works were moved to the Philadelphia branch of Wanamaker's after a fire in 1907 and shown annually in the stores during Easter week from 1911 to 1988. (4)